The Miami Dolphins have signed Artis Hicks, a veteran offensive lineman.

Hicks visited the team on Thursday and his agent, JR Rickert, tweeted out that he signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins.

Hicks has 71 career starts in his 10 seasons, which included stops in Philadelphia, Minnesota, Washington and Cleveland.

It’s uncertain which spot Hicks would play considering he’s versatility, but Miami is rebuilding the entire right side of their line, letting right guard Vernon Carey, and right tackle Marc Colombo sign elsewhere.

Hicks played in nine games last season with three starts.

Considering he’s 33, it is more realistic that Hicks is viewed as a swingman more than a potential starter.

The Dolphins signed Lydon Murtha on Tuesday, offering him a $1.9 million tender he signed, and it’s possible Murtha could man the right tackle spot.

Miami also has holdovers Nate Garner and John Jerry to compete for the vacant right guard spot. The Dolphins also have Ryan Cook under contract for one more season. But considering Cook has a cap hit of $1,112,500 it is possible the Dolphins could reduce his salary, or make him a cap casualty.

New head coach Joe Philbin, who happens to be a former offensive line coach, is seeking a more athletic line, one that can zone block effectively.

Hicks comes from a Browns offense that used zone blocking concepts last season.

The Dolphins also hosted former Texans starter Eric Winston, a former UM standout, but he continued his free agent visits, traveling to Kansas City on Thursday.

The Dolphins have a genuine interest in signing Winston, but its likely he’ll command a salary that pays him $5-7 million a season, which is out of Miami’s price range at this time.

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Not sure if you have been keeping up with all the Pro Days but nfldraftscout.com had this to say about Kirk Cousins after Michigan State’s pro day (on wednesday):

“QB Kirk Cousins (6-3, 215) had already led the Spartans to 27 triumphs, including two 11-win seasons and three straight victories over Michigan. But after impressing pro scouts at the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine, he was in complete control at MSU’s Pro Day. Cousins again showed he could complete any kind of pass, throwing to wideouts B.J. Cunningham, Keshawn Martin and Keith Nichol, tight end Brian Linthicum and running back Edwin Baker. Though no one will ever confuse him with Robert Griffin III, Cousins’ accuracy, intelligence and leadership should make him a high second-round pick.”

“A strong effort was also turned in by safety Trent Robinson. The athletic safety had impressed at the Combine, turning in one of the better all-around performances at his position there, including running well (4.53). He shaved a tenth of a second off of his time for scouts Wednesday, however, and showed good agility and speed throughout his positional drills, as well.”

I don’t have a problem with what Sanchez said about that (except of course, the messenger.) I think if he has any designs on turning his career around, he has to take control of that offense.

The QB is in a unique position. No WR gets a catch unless he decides they get the football. Taking off my finfan hat and hatred for Sancheez, I’d do exactly what he’s doing. You got a new contract, now go get those punks in line in the locker room.

I know everyone’s afraid of the 2nd round QB, like he’s the boogieman, but I hope cousins gets a long hard look from us in the 2nd. Even if Flynn is here, let’s just get this greenbay QB farm thing started right now.

We got another Bcorn….Carolina’s bench player is our ANSWER man @ CB, starter $ for a 2nd tier player from a bad team (not as bad as us mind you). And now we get a 2nd tier OL from another bad team, but he has ‘versatility’ – I love that & a one year deal to show him the confidence we have in him. We don’t have the money to sign anything but a 2nd tier QB – Matt Mediocrity. No WR, No DB, No starting caliber OL, No rush DE. Keep those acorns, er, Bcorns comin’ Jeffy – yer buildin’ a virtual dynasty down there. We should be a lock for last place for years to come. 7-9 twice, then 6-10 unless we say the 1st 7-9 was on the FATuna, in that case Jeffy’s gang is 7-9 & 6-10 – I’m on board with that kinda improvement. Lets see if we can get all the way up to 5-11 this year! What a freakin’ mess. This team is uglier than Ross’ mirror.

We should sign Flynn and either swap our pick with Pittsburgh and grab wallace (not sure anything else would be required in a deal like that as they will never see the 8th pick being tendered for Wallace) or trade down, pick up another pick somewhere in the second round and tender the pick to Pittsburgh for wallace

“Chad Henne 2012 player profile, game log, season stats, career stats, recent news If … Jaguars signed QB Chad Henne to a two-year, $6.75 million contract. … new coach Mike Mularkey may have more luck bringing out his physical gifts than …”

Really depends on the weapon and situation, but imho Henne is worth every penny. Again, he needs some weapons down there though. I guarantee he’s the starter by the end of the year. He’s gonna go in there and already have such control of leading an NFL offense that it’s gonna be obvious that he should sidestep Gabbert.

Football writes, (if they can be called that) and their groupie fan followers are a bunch of bleeting sheep; they repeat and recycle lame streotype over and over. The herd will jump off a cliff if a 2nd or 3rd round QB is taken, but everyone is salivating over Flynn, a weak-armed 6th round pick with less success, experience, and possibly less talent than Matt Moore.

What’s even worse is that management seems to follow the same group think as the herd. A few years ago everyone was gaga ove the hiring of Cam “Camoron”, and so it goes.

It appears Philbin is getting plenty of input into the type players he wants. He is on record as not wanting diva receivers – he would rather have three quality receivers that can all go get the ball.

With the early signings of the Fins it looks like we can be very flexible in who we draft and maybe even moving back in the first round. We need a quality pass rusher and there are several in first rounder that fill the bill. Just avoid the one from NC – he played to not get hurt last year.

Its amazing to me how the Dolphins have no probowlers to speak of, but has no cap space to sign top free agents like Eric Winston, and others. Where is the money going and to who? Theres other NFL teams who have less cap space then the Dolphins but are having no problem signing free agents.

OMAR KELLY was unsuccessful at achieving his childhood dream to become a super hero, so he figured he'd do the next best thing and become a journalist who fights against injustice, and searches for truth. After being bored to death reporting news and covering politics, he switched to sports.
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IZZY GOULD joined the Sun Sentinel in Feb. 2012 as a Senior Sports Reporter on the Miami Dolphins beat. He came to South Florida fresh off covering the University of Alabama football program, including its 2011 national championship team. More